As tired as the subject may seem to us all, parking is an issue that refuses to die; it lives on as a hassle built into our daily lives.
Just in the last two weeks, The Channels has reported on three separate issues dealing with the parking dilemmas. Parking is an issue every student on this campus should stop and think about. These issues affect every one of us as students.
The biggest deal for me is that the Student Senators are being issued parking permits, which allow them to park in staff spots. This means there are eight more cars that the teachers and staff have to fight with for spots.
By issuing the permits, Superintendent-President John Romo is only creating more congestion for teachers and staff and annoying the rest of the hard- working students. I have heard plenty of people asking why they don’t get permits when they work just as hard as the student senators.
Don’t get me wrong; the student senators are hard working people. They are the ones who speak for the City College population. They deal with issues that no one else wants to deal with. I just think there are plenty of people who work equally as hard and aren’t receiving the same benefits. Senators, like all of us, are just students. They should be subject to the same rules. People like tutors, club leaders and even the editors of The Channels.
These students work over 12-hour days with little pay. I have always looked at it as part of being involved in school. You volunteer to be a student-leader and you don’t expect payment in return.
If we start giving people gifts for being involved, we risk the loss of good-intentioned, hardworking individuals. Would people work harder because they want to, or for the perks? I think the only fair way to deal with this issue is to either reward all hardworking students with special privileges or force students to fend for themselves in this battle.
Ideally no one should get them. We are all students and should have to deal with the same problem. It’s not fair to say some deserve parking perks more than others.
Some people, however, feel that they should be given special permits and will go to whatever lengths it takes to get them. Sadly, one of our own editors felt compelled to illegally use a staff permit to avoid the hassle; and, according to Security Director John Dafoe, he is not the first to do this either.
I find it really sad that parking at City College has become such a huge deal in all of our lives that people would feel the need to do this. I am not trying to justify his actions, nor should they be justified, but I do believe that if we had a different parking situation, where buying a permit means you’re actually guaranteed a space, the rates of these kinds of crimes would drop. It really does make me sad that a good person I know would risk everything they have at this college for a good parking space.
There have been numerous solutions to this problem proposed, but none yet have promised a real end to the annoyance. City College is being forced by the California Costal Commission to create 450 more parking spaces. With talks of a new high-rise parking structure on the way I wonder if it will really solve the problem.
Even if there are more available spaces there is a chance many more permits would be sold. In that case, the structure would solve nothing.
This is an ongoing issue that will continue to rear its ugly head at both students and staff.
Eventually something has to be done. I just don’t think it is going to be while any of us still have our youth. So until then, for us “regular” students, it’s back to the battlegrounds. Good luck.